TAFE campus opens on old Mitsubishi site in Adelaide

Construction trades will be taught at the TAFE campus at Tonsley Park.

A new TAFE campus with the capacity for over 6,000 students has been opened on the former Mitsubishi site at Tonsley Park in Adelaide.

The ABC reports that the new campus will cater for students learning a range of trades and is part of a $120 million training and manufacturing hub. Students will study courses formally taught at other campuses in Marleston, Panorama and O'Halloran Hill.

TAFE SA chief executive Jeff Cunningham told the ABC that construction trades including bricklaying, carpentry, and air-conditioning will be taught at the new campus.

Back in 1964 Chrysler Australia opened a vehicle manufacturing plant at the site. Then in 1980, Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Corporation bought Chrysler Australia and the Tonsley Park site.

The company continued manufacturing cars there until 2008 when the South Australian Government bought the site in 2010 with the intention of creating an integrated mixed-use employment precinct.

The site has two other tenants apart from TAFE - the Flinders University school of mathematics and science and Tier 5, an ICT company.

The SA Opposition has criticised the Government and said this is a small number of tenants. However, according to Premier Jay Weatherill there are talks with other parties interested in establishing facilities at the site.

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